PRINCE Charles is planning to move the Royal Family out of Buckingham Palace and transform it into a museum, hotel and events centre when he becomes king, it was claimed ­yesterday.

According to sources quoted in an authoritative new book written by BBC broadcaster Andrew Marr, the Prince wants to put his own stamp on the monarchy by formulating a “detailed plan for a first year of change under King Charles III”.

Marr makes the revelations in a biography of the Queen, to be published this week, which he has spent two years researching.

In The Diamond Queen, Marr claims Prince Charles has already distanced himself from the Queen’s court in the capital.

“His succession would be followed by a dramatic clearing out of the current Buckingham Palace staff and the arrival of his own team,” he writes.

“One of the more dramatic ideas that has been discussed is for the Royal Family in his reign to leave Buckingham Palace entirely, leaving it as a kind of grand official government hotel and centre for events.

The king would base himself not in London but at Windsor Castle

BBC broadcaster Andrew Marr

“The king would base himself not in London but at Windsor Castle.”

Official Palace sources dismissed the reports as “complete speculation”. A spokesman for Clarence House added: “There have been no discussions or plans or meetings at all about this matter, or any plans made about such future arrangements.”

Prince Charles, 62, has been heir to the throne since 1952, when his mother became Queen after the death of George VI. And there is no end in sight to his wait. The Queen has delighted observers on her tour of Australia by appearing in remarkably good health at 85.

According to Marr’s book, Charles has confided in aides that he wonders if he will outlive his mother, who has in the past ruled out abdicating in favour of her eldest son.

However, one source told Marr that abdication has been discussed and added: “I wouldn’t actually rule it out, at the end of the day. If she got to a point where she was very old and very tired it could come to be the sensible view. A lot depends on the public.”

Another possibility is that Charles could be given the title of Prince Regent, having the role of managing his mother’s diary of engagements and tackling the daily red box of government papers.

Marr, who is preparing three documentaries for the BBC to mark the Diamond Jubilee next June, followed the Queen on several overseas trips.

He said the time he spent with the Queen converted him from a republican to a monarchist. “She has been dutiful. She has been a lot more than dutiful. She has been shrewd, kind and wise. Britain would have been a greyer, shriller, more meagre place.”